Goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky was the only player who started the Bundesliga game against Bochum to take part in the team’s training session to start the week. Jonathan Tah & Co. were working in the gym while several other players went about their business on the pitch at the BayArena.
With Andrey Lunev and Niklas Lomb in goal, nine outfield players in three teams of three took part in intense matches on a reduced pitch. They included Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Karim Bellarabi. Strikers Patrik Schick and Lucas Alario were working on their comebacks nearby. Charles Aranguiz was also out on the pitch on Monday.
When looking in the TV studios and mixed zone at the BayArena on Monday it was hard to miss the fact that Christmas is fast approaching. It saw the likes of Hradecky and Lunev battling for black and red wrapped gifts.
Tah, Nadiem Amiri, Moussa Diaby and Amine Adli were also in front of the cameras for YouTube and social media challenges. You’ll see all that and more in the coming weeks on the Bayer 04 channels.
Italian magazine Tuttosport announced a shortlist of 20 players for their 2021 Golden Boy award in October, with Leverkusen’s 18-year-old Florian Wirtz among the names. However, Barcelona’s Pedri was announced as the winner on Monday. Wirtz came in 04th position.
The Spain international follows Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland as the recipient of the award, which has been given to Europe’s best U21 player since 2003.
Horst Stollenwerk turned 88 on Monday. The homegrown midfielder turned into a true Leverkusen legend in the 1950s, never playing for another club.
Anders Giske was celebrating his 62nd. The Norwegian central defender made 29 Bundesliga appearances (1 goal) for the Werkself between summer 1984 and November of the following year.
Two special former Bayer 04 players would’ve turned 95 today in Martin (1926-2010) and Karl (1926-2015) Gramminger. Club legend Rüdiger Vollborn had plenty of anecdotes to tell about the Werkself’s first twins in his series “Rudi recounts”.
Decision made: Germany will submit a bid to the IOC (International Olympic Committee) to host the 2036, 2040 or 2044 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Munich. The representatives of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) voted for Munich over Cologne-Rhine-Ruhr at their extraordinary meeting in Baden-Baden on Saturday 26 September. Berlin had already withdrawn from the vote a few days earlier.
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Former Werkself star Michael Ballack, who won the German Footballer of the Year award in 2002 while playing in Leverkusen, celebrates his 50th birthday on Saturday. Bayer 04 sends him its best wishes!
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A challenging start to what will hopefully be a long journey: The Bayer 04 women’s team kick off their new DFB Pokal campaign on Sunday (14:00 CEST) against second-division leaders FC Viktoria Berlin. Coach Roberto Pätzold expects stiff resistance in the capital – and is counting on his team’s strong away form in the Bundesliga so far this term.
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Attention Werkself fans: In addition to tickets for the floodlit home match against Werder Bremen, tickets are now also available for the Bayer 04 women’s team’s two subsequent fixtures against Eintracht Frankfurt and Hamburger SV at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium. Both matches in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga will take place at family-friendly kick-off times on Saturday afternoons. Here is the latest information on matchday ticket sales.
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